Oil, gas task force recommendations are adopted by Broomfield council

Move caps months of work by committee to add language to 2016 Comprehensive Plan

By Jennifer Rios

Staff Writer

Posted:
09/27/2017 12:02:21 AM MDT

The Oil and Gas Comprehensive Plan Update Committee sought input from Broomfield residents in July. Its work was adopted by the City Council on Tuesday night. (Paul Aiken / Staff Photographer)

More than 150 people attended Tuesday's Broomfield City Council meeting, where the recommendations of the Oil and Gas Comprehensive Plan Update Committee officially were adopted.

Dozens of attendees took to the podium during the citizen comment period at the beginning of the meeting and during another comment period after the item was called on the agenda.

The council voted 9-to-1 to adopt the recommendations, with Ward 4 Councilman Kevin Kreeger voting against.

The recommendations now become a standard-bearer that Broomfield officials can reference when negotiating with oil and gas operators, when working to enact local regulations and when talking to legislators to enact state laws.

Late last month, the Oil and Gas Comprehensive Plan Update Committee first presented its work to the City Council. The text will become a chapter in the 2016 Broomfield Comprehensive Plan, a section that initially was overlooked when the document was adopted last year.

Before he voted, Kreeger wanted to make it clear he supported the task force, but did not feel the document was ready to be approved. He wanted mistakes, including the name of a university listed in the document, and other items he saw as discrepancies fixed before adopting.

"It feels like it's being rammed through," he said. "I don't know why it has to be approved tonight with errors in it."

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He pointed to an air quality study that he felt needed to be redone and discussions on continuing monitoring with a Commission Air Monitoring Environmental Laboratory — a mobile device Broomfield could purchase for more than $420,000, but could require the operators pay for.

While other council member agreed that the document was not perfect, they felt amendments could be made in the future.

Sarah Mann, a member of the update committee who worked on the legal subcommittee, asked council to examine what it thinks could be put into effect as ordinances and what it feels is necessary to request of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Committee. She was not in favor of approving the chapter Tuesday night.

"I believe this is putting the cart before the horse," she said. "I'm disappointed in the chosen order of events."

Several Adams County residents, including Adams County Commissioner Steve O'Dorisio, also attended the meeting to express their disappointment in the latest well sites proposed by Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc., which will move development closer to Adams County homes.

Adams County resident Stacy Lambright talked about a flow line leak near her home and how tests showed levels of benzine present.

"This is the reality of living next to or close to oil and gas wells," she said. "They will leak."

She pointed to nose bleeds her family has experienced over the past two years and how her husband's asthma has been impacted.

She, along with other non-Broomfield residents, asked council to consider the impact its decisions will have on neighboring communities.

"We have not had a voice yet," Barbara Bender, another neighbor in unincorporated Adams County, said. "This was a slap in the face to us."

Tami Yellico, director of strategic initiatives for Broomfield, who has overseen the task force, briefly updated council on the chapter, which included a map of alternative site analysis, and a change that was made Monday night at the task force's meeting.

Members discussed concerns that wells may meet the 750 foot setback requirement outlined in the chapter, with eight wells on a pad. But if two well pads sit within 500 feet of one another and have a total of 16 wells, it defeats the purpose. New language was added to bump up the distance requirement to meet the higher buffer zone if that was the case.

Task force members will continue to work on property values, Yellico said, and Broomfield now has an employee in the assessor's office actively tracking values.

Property Value Subcommittee member Tom Yeager said the chapter does have a hole where that section is, but that overall the task force has done a wonderful job and the chapter is ready to be adopted. He assured council that the Property Values Subcommittee would return with findings.

"We know time is of the essence, and we've lost some time, so we're going to play catch up," he said.

Many Broomfield residents, such as Larry Gates, thanked council, staff and the task force for their hard work and for doing it in a "transparent and thorough manner."

While he does not agree with all of the language, he said if Broomfield waits for a perfect document, it would never finalize this process.

"Amendments can always be made," he said.

Some pieces of the recommendations go beyond what the state allows, he said, but the majority of the document is well thought out and deserves to be passed.

Resident Sue Saad said when the task force first was created, she worried it was a delay tactic, but now is proud of the standard Broomfield is setting by engaging with the oil and gas industry and still putting the health and safety of residents first.

Eric Jacobsen, senior vice president of operations at Extraction who also spoke during the public comment period, talked about the 40 wells the company plans to plug and abandon and other ways the company plans to go "above and beyond" state requirements.

Ward 2 Councilman Mike Shelton said he was concerned that there were things Broomfield missed in the plan — areas still to be studied. He understands the work is not done, and that perhaps they can be done in discussions about regulations.

"I think its great that this came from the citizens themselves without interference or influence from council," Shelton said, "without influence from the oil and gas industry either."

Mayor Randy Ahrens talked about how council started the task force in lieu of passing a moratorium on oil and gas development. He challenged comments from Mark Matthews, outside counsel for Colorado Oil and Gas Association, who said he appreciates the work of the task force, but expressed concern that they conflicted with state law.

"Mr. Matthews (those laws) are antiquated," Ahrens said. "When you are out in rural America it's a different proposal than when you're in a densely populated area."

Ahrens said that was one thing Extraction understands and one reason the company is working with Broomfield to adopt many, but not all, of the task force recommendations as it works toward a new memorandum of understanding with the city.

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